375 Chapter 18. CAN YOU REALLY BE ANONYMOUS? In a phrase: probably not. Electrons and paperwork are forever. Too much ties together what we do and where we are to who we are. This is true whether we are in cyberspace or in real space. Each of us is tied to our nation by citizenship, to our name, to our parentage and ethnicity, and to our birth-date on paper via birth and hospital certificates from the time we are born. According to the United States Passport rules: "A birth certificate must include your given name and surname, date and place of birth, date the birth record was filed, and seal or other certification of the official custodian of such records." Soon after we are born, some of us even acquire baptismal certificates or similar documents, as- sociating us with a particular religion. We begin early in our well-documented society. Just look at our document-oriented lives. To enter elementary school the following is needed: proofs of age, guardianship, residency and